Some of the stores in Alabama have formed Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Company, a retailers' cooperative to manage distribution while using the Piggly Wiggly name. The company headquarters is located in Keene, New Hampshire. There are more than 600 independently owned and operated stores in 17 states. Ī Piggly Wiggly store in Springhill, Louisiana, in August 2011 C&S acquired regional warehouses Piggly Wiggly Carolina in 2013 and Piggly Wiggly Midwest in 2021. Fleming filed for bankruptcy in 2003, and C&S Wholesale Grocers acquired most of the business, including Piggly Wiggly. Malone & Hyde was acquired by Fleming Companies in 1988. Piggly Wiggly was acquired by the wholesale grocer Malone & Hyde in 1982. Someone once asked him why he had chosen such an unusual name for his organization, to which he replied, 'So people will ask that very question.' Present company There are two theories: One story says that, while riding a train, he looked out his window and saw several little pigs struggling to get under a fence, which prompted him to think of the rhyme. Name Īccording to the Piggly Wiggly web site, Saunders was 'reluctant' to explain the origin of the company's name. Īccording to John Brooks, Piggly Wiggly's 'greatly changed corporate structure.flourished into the 1960s,' and hundreds of stores 'operated under a franchise agreement with the Piggly Wiggly Corporation, of Jacksonville, Florida. However, he remained interested in automated shopping, with which he experimented initially with the Keedoozle store until he died in 1953. Īfter losing control of Piggly Wiggly, Saunders had no further association with the company. In 1935, all 179 Canadian Piggly Wiggly were also sold to Canada Safeway, which merged with Sobeys in 2013. įollowing these events, the company was divided into strategic units and sold to regional grocery chains, including Kroger, Safeway, National Tea, and Colonial. Saunders reputedly lost $9 million in the attempted corner. The Stock Exchange Governors responded by deciding that a corner had been established in Piggly Wiggly and removed the stock from the Board, eventually forcing Saunders to turn over his assets to the banks that had financed his leveraged position. In November 1922, Saunders attempted a squeeze on the substantial short interest in the stock, running the share price up from 40 to 120 and profiting by millions on paper. At its peak in 1932 (see Clarence Saunders), the company operated 2,660 stores and posted annual sales in excess of $180 million. The success of Piggly Wiggly was phenomenal, and other independent and chain grocery stores changed to self-service in the 1920s and 1930s. provide shopping carts for customers, starting in 1937 in Oklahoma.The original Piggly Wiggly Store, Memphis, Tennessee, 1918

Instantly, packaging and brand recognition became important to companies and consumers alike. The customers selected merchandise as they continued through the maze to the cashier. Customers at Piggly Wiggly entered the store through a turnstile and walked through four aisles to view the 605 items sold in packages and organized into departments. The concept of the 'self-serving store' was patented by Saunders in 1917. Piggly Wiggly Corporation secured the self-service format and issued franchises to hundreds of grocery retailers to operate its stores. Others were initially experimenting with this format, which came to be known as a 'groceteria', reminding people of cafeterias, another relatively new, self-service idea. Losses due to easier shoplifting were more than offset by profits from increased impulse purchasing. Piggly Wiggly introduced the innovation of allowing customers to go through the store, gathering their goods, thus cutting costs and lowering prices. This created greater costs and higher prices. Instead, a customer would give a list of items to a clerk, who would then collect them throughout the store. A replica of the original store has been constructed in the Memphis Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium, a mansion that Saunders built as his private residence, which was later sold to the city.Īt the time of its founding, grocery stores did not allow customers to gather their goods.

It was founded on Septem (although it did not open until five days later due to delays in construction), at 79 Jefferson Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, by Clarence Saunders.

Piggly Wiggly was the first self-service grocery store. Historical marker near the site of the first Piggly Wiggly store in Memphis, Tennessee

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